By Eri Furukawa

Last November, an unbelievable fact was uncovered; earthquake-resistant strength data for many condominiums was falsified in the structural accounts of Hidetsugu Aneha, a former first class architect. At first, it appeared that Aneha alone was responsible for this crime. However, he testified in the diet that he was compelled to deceive by being squeezed by companies that designated him as a subcontractor. Moreover, the number of buildings constructed with falsified structural accounts is about 100, and this has caused much despair and anger to the inhabitants of the buildings he designed.

According to Aneha's remarks, because "E-Homes," one of the state's designated private inspection institutions, didn't audit his structural accounts very carefully and allowed the construction, the worst case happened. They overlooked obvious problems that even a layman could see, not to mention a professional inspector. This scandal has tarnished the image of the private inspection system.

Aneha said he thought that the falsification of data was "a bad thing," and that he wanted it brought to light. This is truly surprising. When summoned as a witness, he repeated his account and repented saying, "If I had refused to falsify the data, my income would surely have become close to zero. Of course I had a conflict in my mind and thought I must absolutely not do that, but, I did it because I was weak." This remark gives a sincere impression. However, is that his true sentiment? It is still unclear.

After all, he was in a weak position as a subcontractor for allegedly corrupt companies. There are three companies maneuvering behind the scenes in this scandal: the real estate company Huser, the construction company Kimura Kensetsu, and the General Management Center (GMC), which seems to be the most powerful of the three. From the very beginning, the companies shifted responsibility to each other, claimed no responsibility, and said that they don't know about Aneha. They have been consistently evading responsibility. Moreover, Takeshi Uchikawa, the president of GMC played a central role in the management service, and he was paid for it. Nonetheless, they have responsibility for this scandal.

Compared to GMC and Kimura construction, Huser received considerable media attention. Susumu Ojima, the president of Huser especially, made many people angry by his words. His attitude to avoid the main issue and to obscure the situation only disguises the truth.

On Jan. 30, Ojima filed a 13.9 million yen lawsuit against various local governments claiming they are at fault for not auditing Aneha's accounts correctly. Furthermore, he has spent about 20 million yen for this suit. Presently, the government is discussing about the compensation for occupants, but people have had a hard time.

Make no mistake, the state should have responsibility that the nation's inspection institution couldn't uncover such falsifications. However, the responsible companies show no signs of regret, and as a result, the image of Japanese business ethics has reached a new low. It is hoped that this kind of scandal never happens again. Regrettably, wrongdoings by other first class architects besides Aneha are now being uncovered.

This scandal was detected during the middle of deliberations of what to do if a big earthquake happens in the near future. People are now demanding complete safety control from the government. However, the most important problem is lack of our business leaders' moral sense.